In 1948, having finished his studies at the prestigious London School of Economics, a young student called KR Narayanan returned home and sought an appointment with the then prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Armed with a letter of introduction from his professor and fabled British Marxist Harold Joseph Laski, Narayanan managed to impress Nehru during their brief interaction in New Delhi. At the end of the conversation, Nehru offered him a diplomat's job.

Narayanan joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1949 and rose up the ranks to become India's ambassador to China and then to the US. Post-retirement, he became vice-president, and eventually the president — the country's first Dalit president at that.

Manufacturing Diplomats

"Those were the days when Panditji personally interviewed prospective IFS candidates and picked convent-educated bright young people, mostly from upper middle-class families," says former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh. "But the art of diplomacy changed after 1991. Indian economy began to expand and there was a genuine need to open more and more commercial wings in Indian missions abroad."

Therefore a large number of non-traditional posts at missions abroad were opened to IAS and other Group A services officers, forcing the tiny 800-member IFS cadre to rethink whether their role as career diplomats would be diminished in this highly economy-driven, globalised world.

What has sent career diplomats into a new tizzy is the Ministry of Commerce's recent overdrive to create 35 new commercial counsellor posts outside the existing 65 Indian commercial missions, and place them in a separate, yet-to-be named cadre. In other words, if such a proposal gets through — the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) is fighting it tooth and nail — there will be two types of Indian officers abroad: traditional IFS for diplomacy and new age non-IFS officials under the total control of the commerce ministry.

"Yes, India's engagement in the world has expanded. India must influence international monetary issues and trade policies. But having a separate commerce ministry cadre abroad is not a good idea. IFS officers, and not IAS with experience in districts and states, are best suited to carry out such work," says Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary.

Trading Charges & More

However, ministries like commerce and finance have been aggressively pushing their own men with some expertise in trade and finance to grab foreign posts. For example, the captive posts in international organisations like the IMF, World Bank and ADB are usually rewarded to efficient but highly loyal officials in the all-powerful Prime Minister's Office or the finance ministry. Some of them like YV Reddy or Vijay Kelkar have admirable command over finance and economics, but most others grabbing coveted posts such as executive director or senior adviser to executive director in the Bank or IMF are merely good administrators with no background in economics or trade.

Income-tax officers who had virtually no presence outside India till a few years ago are also stationed in 10 global locations of Cyprus, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, UAE, the UK, the US, Mauritius and Singapore. With illegal trans-border movement of funds becoming a routine affair now, the finance ministry has proposed to set up Income-Tax Overseas Units (ITOUs) in 14 new foreign destinations. "The MEA is stonewalling the process and not clearing the proposals of commerce and finance ministries for creating new posts in foreign missions. The MEA is creating hurdles even though it is aware that IFS officers can't handle those specialised jobs," says a commerce ministry official on condition of anonymity. Who is the Real Boss?

Sure, some of the foreign posts that demand specialisation in agriculture or defence have existed for decades. Officers with a background in agriculture, for example, have been recruited as counsellors at the Indian mission in Rome since 1958 when an agriculture wing of the embassy was established. The officer not only represents India at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations but also handles affairs of World Food Programme and International Fund for Agricultural Development, both headquartered in Rome. Central customs officers have traditionally been posted in Gulf countries, and the Comptroller and Auditor General's office deputes its officers to missions such as Washington DC and London.